Our team

Jan Šmída
Managing Partner

I spend most of my career looking for insights in customer and employee motivation. This journey led me years ago to establish our own company Motivate, specializing in research in the area of ​​employee motivation. As a result, I have had the opportunity to interview several thousand employees, ranging from ordinary employees to the top management of large corporations, and that will keep me entertained. Thus I had the opportunity to get to know the specifics of various sectors, as for example Financial sector, IT, Energy, Foodretail or Healthcare. What I like about my job the most is to find a common denominator in people motivation why they get up to work every morning and like to work for their employer, not somewhere else. Based on this information and experience so far, what has worked successfully somewhere else, I know how to transform this knowledge into concrete steps and solutions that will help the company in the areas of processes, communication, remuneration or efficiency, while increasing employee motivation and satisfaction. Because only motivated employees can bring long-term and sustainable growth to their employer.

Jiří Žižka
Senior Partner

During almost 20 years spent in the field of marketing communication, I had the rare opportunity to work for more than 30 brands, on many interesting rebranding projects, mergers of corporate cultures or the introduction of new products to the market. This experience has shown me how important it is for companies to be able to listen to and understand the needs of customers as well as their own employees. Because employees, current and past, are the greatest asset of any company from which potential brand ambassadors or, on the contrary, haters are recruited. Years ago, this led me to found Motivate, a company that specializes in analyzing the attitudes and behavior of employees. Thanks to the correct analysis, we can recommend effective measures to increase employee satisfaction and loyalty, improve the brand name in the labor market, or change the corporate culture. It is unbelievable how many smart and interesting people companies have hidden among their employees. And it doesn’t matter whether it is a manager, a shop assistant, a doctor or a truck driver. I will always like to discovering this wealth for companies, hidden in people’s experiences.

Petr Šmída
Associate Senior Partner

When I bought the then defunct brand Multiservis in 1993 with my partners, nobody would have believed that it would become the largest player in the credit market. When I established a new bank for GE in 1998, GE Capital, on an already divided market at the time, nobody believed it would become the 4th largest bank in the Czech Republic and the 2nd largest provider of loans… and I end up as the first „Eastern European” in the top management of GE Capital in Stamford. In 2003, when I took over the management of the, at the time, rather small Alfa Bank in Moscow, even I had no idea that it would grow 10 times in five years and become the largest privately owned bank in Russia, which will be evaluated by international media as the best bank in Russia for three consecutive years. All of these stories have one thing in common – wonderful people connected by a vision, desire and common values. In the beginning there was one belief, accompanied by positive energy, diligence of the entire implementation team, but mainly a shared clear vision of where to go and how to achieve it. The main tool along this journey was always a change in company culture, so that each employee at each level of management knew, understood and above all believed in where we were going and how… and actively participated in the creation of our journey. And thus MOTIVATE…

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